Trip to Costco
I was in Costco last Sunday with my 4-year-old daughter. In the check out lane in front of us was an older gentleman dressed in his golf clothes. He commented to my daughter on how helpful she was being as she took items out of our cart and put them on the counter. My daughter is not shy and she started talking to him as well. She speaks loudly and clearly and he missed everything that she said. I tried to help him out by repeating a little louder what she had said but he couldn't hear me either. As he checked out, the cashier tried to tell him how to slide the credit card through the machine. He asked the cashier to repeat the instructions three times and finally the cashier just took over the task. This gentleman to me represents the millions of people getting a bit older and with age losing their hearing gradually. Unfortunately, this gentleman is missing out on life. He is completely isolated because he has chosen for some reason to do nothing about his hearing loss. I don't know his particular reasons, but none are good enough to go through life like this. I didn't jump in to tell him what a difference a hearing aid would make in his life, but I certainly thought about it. There are hearing aids that would help him substantially and he would be very satisfied with how they look and sound. If only he would just seek out a professional to help.
Jun 12, 2009 at 12:54 PM I think this brings up an important topic - what do you say to a hard of hearing person who does not use amplification? Do we change our behavior for him/her by speaking louder and repeating ourselves? Do we thus become their ears and entering into an unpleasant co-dependent relationship? It's going to take a tough love approach to shake people out of denial. This would be an important topic for this blog.
Jun 12, 2009 at 8:25 PM In defense of the elderly gent who was simply being friendly by commenting on the 4 year old child's helpfulness: He most likely had no intention of establishing a two way conversation. I use both a hearing aid and a cochlear implant, and do extremely well in most settings as long as I am able to concentrate on only one conversation. However, when I am trying to do two things at once...and one of those things requires listening, I often do poorly at both of them. Checking out with a cashier is a perfect example. S/He says something while I'm looking at that store's particular 'credit card machine' to figure out which button I need to push for 'credit' and I miss what the clerk said. There's a 'vision thing' going on here too because it's hard to read the buttons on the machine. I can't hear the person talking when I'm looking at the machine. This is very difficult for people with normal hearing to understand. And once you're over 50 the eyes start to go too! Further, when someone else in line is also talking to you (in this case an adult and a child), it gets even crazier. Way too many HH folks give up the 'being friendly' part because it's easier to simply not talk to anyone. Yes, the denial issue is a big problem...but even with amplification a check out line is a very difficult place for a person with even a mild hearing loss to converse with ease.
Jul 8, 2009 at 8:17 AM It has been shown in research that hearing aids improve health-related quality of life by reducing psychological, social, and emotional effects of hearing loss. I'm sure there are many reasons the gentleman we met in Costco that day did not wear hearing aids. He might not want to admit he's getting older, he might believe there is a stigma to wearing hearing aids, or he might believe that hearing aids do not work well enough to help him. What was sad to me is that I do know that hearing aids would significanlty improve his quality of life. This gentleman obviously had age-related high frequency hearing loss and the use of a hearing aid would have completely solved his problem in Costco. I hope he will accept his loss one day and give the hearing aids a try.
Reference: Chisolm, TH, Johnson CE, Danhauer, JL et al. A systematic review of health-related quality of life and hearing aids: Final report of the American Academy of Audiology Task Force on the Health-Related Quality of Life Benefits of Amplifacation in Adults. J. Am Acad Audiol. 2007; 18(2):151-183.
Oct 10, 2009 at 7:11 PM The really interesting thing about this gentleman is that the majority of Costco's have a hearing aid center facing directly at the check out lines. So he is probably blind as well. I'd like to know which golf course he plays so I can stay away from it, lest I get maimed at the 19th tee!
Oct 12, 2009 at 2:25 PM PLEASE, don't visit Costco to get your hearing aids. Go to a clinic, hospital, private practice,etc... See an audiologist and get the service you deserve. Costco may have better pricing but what else.
Oct 15, 2009 at 11:54 AM Mr. Zeigler,
I couldn't agree with you more. LOVED your post. It's SO TRUE!!
Oct 22, 2009 at 12:17 PM So Brian, what do the clinics, hospitals, etc., do that Costco doesn't? They use the same testing, etc., what's the difference?
Nov 3, 2009 at 9:13 AM My Name is Lee McLeod. I am a Ph.D. audiologist and worked for Costco for eight years in California. I currently work for another company in Las Vegas... but I must defend some statements made on this Blog. The first comment goes to Brian Qvammen... Brian, Costco serves its members a very high level of quality products and for the most part...A very high level of service. Their primary goal is to provide diagnostic hearing testing for the purpose of fitting and dispensing hearing aid hearing aids to its members at a very competitive price. COstco employes both audiologists and licensed hearing aid dispensers. Where clinics and hospitals have a much more fuller diagnostic capability, Costco's focus is on fitting hearing aids. Since most hearing losses (80%) cannot be medically treatable...Costco provides the capability of improving its members with a better quality of life. Both licensed hearing aid dispensers and audiologists that I worked with at Costco were highly qualified individuals who provided excellent care.
My second comment is to Russ Parrish who also worked for Costco in this Blog...Brian...Costco does use the HINT and QSIN tests to evaluate the effectiveness of a patient's capability in noise.... I disagree with you...Costco's product line provides a excellent capability to fit most patient's... Where they do not cover all manufacturer's most of their lines of products provide good quality for the price the patient would pay. ALthough I work for another company now.....I can say that for individual's searching to improve their quality of life because of their hearing loss, Costco can provide that benefit... There are qualified clinics, hospitals, private practices in addition to Costco..... PLease make a judgement call on who you deal with by first talking with the professional you choose to go to rather than makeing a judgement statement about the company the individual works for... There has never been a better time to be fit with great technology in the hearing aid industry. It is my hope that the individual who this blog was about will someday feel the need to do something for himself and those around him who care for him. Maybe he will recognise the nest time he is at Costco..that their is a hearing center in that location that can support him H. Lee McLeod Ph.D. CCc audiolgiist
Feb 28, 2010 at 7:09 PM Good hearing aids and good fitting are so important to the quality of peoples lives and ability to earn a living they must be seen as worthy of insurance support or credit, because in the end it costs us more if a person can not function in our society because they can not hear.
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